Stop
by WCSU’s Westside Athletic Complex during the fall semester, and
odds are you would find student athletes from one of the Colonials’
many fall sports teams on the field engaged in practice or
competition.

“In the fall, sometimes you’re wall-to-wall
with players on the field, and practices often continue well into
the night,” Western Director of Athletics Ed Farrington observed
during a recent interview at his office at the O’Neill Athletic and
Convocation Center.

Farrington takes pride in the university’s
commitment to preserve a wide variety of competitive sports
offerings for Western students. But he also must look forward to
anticipate the significant capital improvements that will be
required in coming years to ensure WCSU will have the facilities
needed to maintain a strong and diverse athletics program. As he
surveys the heavy usage that the WAC field receives throughout the
academic year, he recognizes that maintenance and eventual
replacement of the stadium’s artificial turf surface represent the
Athletic Department’s most pressing infrastructure concern.

Sprinturf, a leading manufacturer of
polyethylene turf now owned by Integrated Turf Solutions, installed
the original Ultrablade MP rubber surface for the athletic complex
that opened on the university’s Westside campus in 2004. Farrington
observed that such artificial turf surfaces typically show
substantial wear from continuous use that requires replacement
approximately 10 years after installation.

“That field has to be our number one priority,”
Farrington observed. “We play football, men’s and women’s soccer,
field hockey, and men’s and women’s lacrosse there. And we don’t
just play our home games there, but we practice there as well. When
you look at the sports program in its entirety, at the teams with a
total of well over 200 students who use that facility, you have to
put that field at the top of our priority list.”

Major facilities needs over the near to middle
term such as artificial turf replacement at the WAC underscore the
ongoing challenge that the university faces in raising private funds
to provide the quality infrastructure needed to field and sustain
Western’s 14 varsity sports programs. Farrington noted that the turf replacement project carries a
significant estimated cost of approximately $1 million, dependent on
more detailed analysis of site preparation requirements. This and
other major athletic infrastructure projects face an uncertain
timetable in an increasingly challenging environment for state
funding, heightening the need to pursue private support.

“In terms of day-to-day operations, our budgets
have allowed us to meet our obligations to our student athletes,” he
said. “Although the Athletic Department budget has seen minimum
growth in recent years, we have not suffered serious cuts and we
have been able to meet our commitments in maintaining team equipment
and avoiding any cutbacks in team schedules and travel. We have had
to tighten up on expenses, but we have never had to reduce the
number of games we play or limit the opportunity for our students to
participate in athletics.

“Where we face the risk of falling behind is in
meeting our big-ticket needs for capital improvements,” he noted.
“The challenge is how we are going to keep up with refurbishing or
replacing major athletic facilities. In athletics, especially when
you start recruiting, facilities play an important role in
determining who you can talk to.”

The WAC artificial turf surface is just one of
several infrastructure needs that the Athletic Department aims to
address within the next five years. Farrington outlined several
other priorities, including:

Development of a new baseball
field, to replace a present field that Farrington
described as “grossly inadequate” to meet the
Colonials’ practice and competitive requirements.

Replacement of the portable basketball floor at the
Feldman Arena in the O’Neill Athletic and
Convocation Center, at an estimated cost of
approximately $125,000. “After many years of taking
that basketball floor up and putting it down again,
it’s like the pieces of a puzzle, they just don’t
fit together as well,” Farrington observed.

Repair and upgrade of the six lighted tennis courts
on the Westside campus, at an estimated cost of
approximately $125,000.

Expansion of the natatorium at the O’Neill Center to
improve locker facilities and provide additional
space for seating within the natatorium during swim
team meets and other events. Sharing the view from
the second-floor balcony space overlooking the
six-lane natatorium, Farrington noted that fans at
meets currently must stand and their cheering is
sealed off from competitors by the thick glass
separating them from the competition, “like Dustin
Hoffman in the wedding scene from ‘The Graduate.’”
Renovation plans call for outward movement of the
exterior wall opposite the present viewing balcony
to permit installation of new locker rooms at the
pool level and bleachers for seating within the
natatorium at the upper level.

Farrington noted the Athletic Department varsity sports programs
also offer opportunities for private donations to support ongoing
fundraising efforts by individual teams to support their competitive
requirements, especially to meet travel budgets for regular season
and tournament contests at off-campus sites.